Chapter Text
July 9, 2020
"No."
Minx rolled her eyes, her tongue poking the inside of her mouth. Behind her peeked out Tubbo with his cheeks puffed. Jeb stood in front of them with his arms crossed.
Tommy stood apart from them, looking low-spirited as always.
"What do you think, Tubs?" Minx drawled with a casual flick of her hand. "You let this guy tell you what to do?"
"'Course not," Tubbo mumbled, avoiding Jeb's disheartened glance. "He ain't my dad or something."
With a heavy sigh, Jeb stepped forward, trying to push Minx aside. "Tubbo," he began.
Minx slammed her fist sideways against the wall. "You heard him!" she chirped shrilly. "Not his dad. Now, shove it!"
A bright morning laid ready on the horizon. The low canopy of gray clouds already blushed red and gold in the east. A brisk wind blew, doing its best to drive away the stale air that filled the love hotel the day before. It made little progress, but Tubbo greeted it with a little lift of his chest.
They were gathered in front of Minx's room at the last spot of the west wing. She picked the one closest to the bathroom on that side at first. But she quickly changed her mind once she learned that was right next to Jeb's room.
Techno welcomed her moving in, cheering neither Wilbur nor Jeb. But he merely thought of the latter's disapproval as a matter between him and Minx.
Meanwhile, he was no longer on speaking terms with his foster brother.
Or, it seemed like it. After their brawl, which left the living room too littered to even stand in, Tubbo saw Wilbur tending to himself all alone while Techno did the cleaning.
Techno also agreed to Minx taking the boys along on her little mission. He said that her reasons were sound and even thanked her for coming up with the idea in the first place. Minx looked at him with a slight pucker on her lips upon hearing that.
"How much do you have to your name?"
"Mm?"
"Never mind."
Minx then promised to take care of the boys' food, lodging, and other needs if they had to make stops along the road. Comforted, Tubbo decided to go with just a change of clothes. While emptying a rucksack Jeb bought for him, he saw his half of his mother's special trinket slip onto his bed. He stared at it as it twinkled in the light.
After placing it gently into one of the drawers in his nightstand, he rolled up his shirt, shorts, and underwear and tucked them under his arm. Then, he waited with jittery feet outside Tommy's door. He shot him his stupidest grin as the boy plodded out. A weak giggle and a shrug were all he got in reply.
"I've been meaning to ask you something, best man," said Tubbo.
"What is it?"
"Do you still have your half of the trinket?"
Tommy tilted his head, his expression softly questioning at first. Then, a sharp twinge shot through his skull. His vision flickered for a second, and he lowered his face as it spasmed with many pricks of pain. Faint gasps and garbled words fell from his lips.
Tubbo looked concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked. Tommy shook his head, waving him off.
A horn blared outside the gravel yard.
"Leg it, boys! I wanna make this quick!"
Minx hummed, her face curdling as she looked at the pair up and down. "Are you seriously going to a secret function like that?" she asked, doing her best to keep her tone buttery despite the sneering that soaked every syllable.
Tubbo looked down in confusion. Was there something wrong with a trusty T-shirt and shorts? He fiddled with his pockets to figure out what Minx was shooting him the stink eye for, growing more perplexed by the second.
From what Minx had shared about the secret party, it was a casual affair. What could be more casual than a shirt and shorts?
Tubbo tried looking to Tommy for answers. But the boy seemed awfully absorbed by something on the side of Minx's bike. He clicked his tongue in frustration.
"What's wrong with this?" he asked pointedly. Minx eyed him for a few seconds with an odd look. One of her eyebrows made the smallest twitch.
And then, she sighed and gestured for the boy's packs. "Nah, it's just... we're definitely making a stop along the way," she said.
As she unlocked the compartment in the bike seat, Jeb's voice rang out from the west wing.
"Better bring little guy back in one piece, broad!"
"Jeez," Minx mouthed to herself before turning and yelling, "What makes you think he won't, bozo?"
"Tubbo!" Jeb shouted again, waiting for the boy to turn to him. Once their eyes met, he opened his mouth as if to speak, only to close it. He repeated this several times until he gave up and settled for a half-hearted wave.
The boy noted the worry on his face. With a determined set of his mouth, he shot the wave back with more energy, then made his way behind Minx as she straddled her Ducati.
Minx handed him and Tommy a couple of helmets after fixing hers on, then adjusted one of the mirrors. The surface flashed with the image of Tommy's still sullen face, and she looked at it while he was unaware, her lips pressing into a thin line.
I think you gave him too much credit, Niki. I can't see it. Not right now.
Then, Minx closed her eyes and popped the visor down.
"Check if they're tight. We won't be cruising our way there."
They made two stops. One for lunch. And another for...
Well...
Minx made clear what she was staring at the pair for when they stopped by a lonely thrift shop. The owner, a middle-aged woman who they found sadly packing her wares to join the slowly disappearing community around her, buzzed with excitement when they entered. Something in her ragged look and her desperate eagerness moved Minx into declaring that she would pay thrice the amount for the items she bought.
"Please! Take as many as you can!" she crowed.
"It's fine. We'll each take a top and bottom, that's all," Minx replied, waving her hands nervously.
The woman pouted but said, "If you say so. At least take something nice. I've got some items that are perfect for the season!"
"You're no agent, aren't you, Minx?" Tubbo whispered to her. "Surely you don't have the money to pay thrice the price."
"Money's always a useful way to settle things, Tubbo," Minx replied with a hum of confidence. "Before and after they happen."
Then, she gleefully dived through the selection of boho clothing, switching out her top for a white, billowy lantern sleeve patterned with purple cats and pink and yellow flowers. She then had Tubbo try on a shirt that matched the hue of the one he wore, which had bees forming multi-tiered rows from the hem and up.
He was in awe of the pattern-work, running his fingers from his stomach to his chest while looking at a mirror inside the changing room. For good measure, he twisted around to continue tracing at the pattern.
His trance broke when he heard Minx talking to Tommy outside. Carefully, he peeked through a gap in the door. He saw the girl standing before Tommy, holding up two identical open-collar shirts with thick threads to close them.
"Do you want the red and gold or the yellow and pink?" she asked, shaking the two for emphasis.
Tommy looked stonily at her, and then looked down, mumbling, "Doesn't matter."
Tubbo shared the weight of Minx's sigh when he heard that, fixing up his top while preparing to go out.
The red one was chosen, and Tubbo silently admired it as he stuck behind Tommy while the wind whipped past them. Over his eyes stinging slightly, he noticed that Minx's head was turned away from the road as she sped ahead.
He followed her line of sight and felt his insides turn cold.
The trees rose in towering fences on both sides of the road. They blanketed the few buildings that dotted the area they were passing through, and they would have created a calming green scenery if not for the menacing, jet-black thing that crested at their very crowns.
The Veil over Austin.
Tubbo felt the bike's engine hum louder.
The scene around them turned into a blur for the next few hours, turning golden as the sun sailed its way to the west. At first, Tubbo thought it would stay that way for a while. But then, he noticed that the branches and trunks began to take more hulking, twisting shapes. Cattails began popping up in large clumps over dark grass, and here and there were pools of water from which rose dark, ghostly spikes and arches. The air began to cool, as well, and Tubbo thought it was leaving a thin film on his skin as the bike slowed down and turned into a rockier path.
They seemed to have plunged into a world of shadow, the once only alien trees turning toward them as if in spiteful vigilance, eager to grab them and pull them down into muddy depths. The sound of the bike quieted, muffled by the looming grass that rustled harshly in their passing. Insects began to chirp and hiss, and from a distance came the lonesome hooting of owls. Here, the air was stifling in a different sense. Where the one at the love hotel threatened to burst into flame at the slightest spark, a languid yet grasping cold blanketed everything.
Soon, only the lights from the bike shone, a strange thing considering that it was not yet late in the afternoon. Tubbo shrank in his seat, wondering if something was about to jump at them from the dark. But out of the eerie half-light of dusk that still laid ahead rose an arch filled with bright, golden bulbs. They formed letters that said,
The Madame Presents
Magic at Matagorda
Underneath this arch was a huge gate of iron and wood. From both its sides, thick walls of moss-covered stone stretched out into a small, shadow lake to their left and a vast parking lot of clay to the right.
Tubbo felt his stomach flutter as he heard the distant throb of music and laughter from the inside.
Minx drove into the parking lot, choosing a spot close to the opening. "Just in case," she told them with a wink as she got off and removed her helmet.
While the boys fixed theirs on the bike handles, she proceeded to give them a quick rebrief.
"We go in, find out whatever's fishy in here, fix it if we have to, then leave. I'm still not sure why they need me to bring boys. So, in case anything weird happens, the both of you stick with me. Oh! Let's try our best to blend in. It'll be easy. From what I can tell, there's a whole-ass carnival in there. Don't know how that's supposed to help them stay secret. Got it?"
"Got it!" Tubbo replied enthusiastically.
Minx then turned to Tommy, gesturing at him to do likewise. Her eyes hardened when he only jerked his shoulder in reply.
"Game face on when we're through the gate, alright?" she said with a thumbs up. Tubbo nodded, stiffened, and began fiddling with the seat compartment. He dug for his pack once it popped open and pulled out the Glock with a whoop of relief.
Minx jumped. "Mother of fuck!"
"It's a cursed tool," Tubbo explained, shoving it into his right pocket bashfully. "For protection! You know, when shit goes down?"
"And where did you get that?!" Minx hissed, fixing her hair.
Tubbo blushed. "Jeb gave it to me."
"Of course, he did," Minx spat. Then, she knelt in front of him and fixed the Glock so the hem of his boho shirt covered it. "It's a good thing this shit has frills," she fussed while patting his shorts roughly.
They stood in front of the gate, Minx peeping around to check if there were any latches or handles. A small slit suddenly opened near the middle, and a pair of sharp yet dazzling hazel-brown eyes squinted at them. From the side, they could see how bright everything was beyond the high walls and gloomy trees.
"Ticket?" a voice as sharp as the eyes said.
Minx fished out the black card from her back pocket. "Here!" she said with a chipper tone.
The eyes crinkled as the voice giggled in a low, velvety purr. Then, they hardened.
"Don't play dumb. You know the requirement."
Minx stepped back, cocking her head in confusion. Then, her eyes flitted to the boys standing nervously behind her. She nudged them forward and said in an unsure tone, "Here?"
The eyes looked down at the two, a hard glimmer in them as they probed about. Quick, sharp whispers suddenly passed behind the gate, and then, the middle swung inward with a groan.
Two ornately dressed women with thick flower crowns ushered them in. One of them was clearly the person who peered through the slit.
"Go to the concierge if you wanna stay longer," she said lazily, eyeing the boys with a look of veiled intrigue. "Show them to the Madame... for admission."
"Question: why's that?" Minx then asked.
The two women looked at each other and chuckled. Then, the one who had yet to speak leaned forward and flicked one of Tubbo's locks, making him shiver.
"It's a surprise," she whispered. She chuckled again, leaned on her companion, and waved them away.
"Huh," went Minx as she proceeded to stride in. Her nonchalant tone belied the serious thoughts running through her head.
Meanwhile, Tubbo's mind was blown. He had never seen much of festivals, even when his Dad would miraculously encourage him to spend time out with his school friends. They had too many people.
He did hear a lot about them, though. And he used to wonder what all the lights and sounds and merry-making were like.
This blew his expectations out of the water. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing short of a grand procession of glimmering, twinkling, ringing, and trilling things. Curiosities abound: tapestries of exotic prints and ornate beadwork, jewelry of all shapes, shades, and sizes, sculptures and paintings and crafts of the finest detail, masks dotted with bright splashes of paint over fair faces of all skin colors, perfumes that released mists both spicy and sweet, and instruments that produced sounds Tubbo did not know could be made.
Tubbo thought he saw someone breathe rainbow fire from their mouth that faded into butterflies instead of smoke. He rubbed his eyes and looked again to be sure, but the fire-breather was nowhere to be found. Must have been a surge of fancy from his befuddled brain.
Above them all, like the ceaseless crashing of the cataracts beneath a wide waterfall, fell the sound of song, laughter, and chatter. They clashed in volume and clarity. Yet, in Tubbo's ears, they rose together in a lush, full chorus that seemed to mix with the ethereal light that twinkled in the air itself.
"Wonder how they managed to hide all this shit?"
Tubbo turned around, eyes wide at hearing Tommy speak. Laughter bubbled in his chest as the blonde glanced at him questioningly.
"I know, right?" he cried.
"Yeah," Minx interjected, her back toward them. "How?"
Tubbo blinked in confusion. But then, she rounded up to them, her face stern. "Stay close. They're already on to us," she whispered, clutching their arms tightly.
He furrowed his brow. "What do you..."
Then, his skin prickled. He looked around and noticed the icy stares zeroing in on them.
"... Mean?"
He began to make out what some of them were saying to each other.
"Two, huh?"
"And they're young ."
"What's she hoping to get?"
He also noticed that the people surrounding them consisted only of women. The "tickets" were nowhere to be seen.
He glanced at Tommy, wondering if he shared the same dawning dread. Minx noticed that and squeezed their arms reassuringly.
"I swore to keep you guys out of trouble. So you two better—"
"Excuse me?"
Minx whipped around, immediately fixing a smile on her face. A woman in a Victorian-esque uniform and a stiff posture looked at her imperiously.
"You're new, right?" she said softly.
"Yup!" Minx replied. "I was looking for where the Madame would be... for the admission?"
"I see. Let me take you to her."
Minx stepped back, placing her hands on the boys' shoulders. Tubbo sensed the readiness in the weight of her palm and gulped.
"Actually, you can just tell me—"
"Follow me."